Hey folks!

What if we told you that a tiny forest elf with a mischievous grin is helping power a multibillion-dollar company?

Yup, meet Labubu, a cute, quirky toy that’s taken the internet (and celebrity handbags) by storm. From Rihanna to K-pop stars, everyone seems to be flaunting one. And behind Labubu’s global rise is the Chinese toy retailer Pop Mart International, whose stock has shot up by over 180% this year, boosting its market value to a whopping HK$350 billion ($44 billion).

That makes it the third most valuable intellectual property (IP) company in the world, right after Disney and Nintendo. Not bad company to keep, eh?

Now, if you’re wondering ‘what on earth is Labubu?’, here’s the backstory. It’s a character that Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung created for his book series The Monsters in 2015. And until 2019 Labubu was part of a fictional dinosaur-era species that lived in forests and were all-female elves.

But that changed when Lung teamed up with Pop Mart, giving it exclusive rights to turn his characters into collectible toys. Fast forward to 2024, and Labubu has gone from a hidden gem to a must-have collectible.

Sure, you could say that the ‘blind box’ strategy helped because some Labubus are rarer than others, and buyers don’t know which one they’re getting till they rip the box open. That element of surprise is undoubtedly addictive, especially for die-hard fans hunting for specific colours or designs.

But what people aren’t talking about is that Labubu’s rise wasn’t just luck or clever packaging. It was creative strategy.

In the early days, Pop Mart was just another startup trying to find its footing. Big-name IPs weren’t lining up to collaborate, and recognition was hard to come by.

So Pop Mart would visit art fairs and watch which artist booths had the longest lines. That became their secret recipe for spotting future stars and building a killer IP portfolio.

Labubu just happened to be one of those gems.

But while the world’s busy unboxing Labubu toys, here’s a thought — could Pop Mart’s success be China’s quiet diversification from manufacturing muscle to cultural trendsetting and soft power expansion?

We’ll let you ponder that over your Sunday coffee or chai. ☕

Here’s a soundtrack to put you in the mood 🎵

Yeh Duniya Jala Do by Janisht Joshi

Thanks for this lovely recommendation, Naitik Dhanani! Keep the recs coming, folks!

What caught our eye this week 👀

Japan’s anime crisis

What comes to your mind when someone says anime?

Probably ‘cool Japan’ or that thing you binge on weekends. And you wouldn’t be wrong.

Anime is big business. Just look at what happened during the pandemic. While Hollywood hit pause, Japan’s Demon Slayer: Mugen Train sliced through global box office records, raking in over $470 million. In 2023, the Japanese anime industry, including streaming and merchandise, hit a record ¥3.34 trillion ($23 billion). That’s a 14% jump from the year before!

But behind all the fandom and profits there’s a crisis brewing.

Japan’s anime workforce is shrinking. The Japan Research Institute predicts that by 2030, the number of animators could fall nearly 30% from 6,200 in 2019.

And we know what you’re thinking — If the money’s rolling in, why aren’t more people joining the party?

Well, turns out, the working conditions aren’t exactly animated bliss.

Most people join the industry for the love of the art. But reality hits hard. The work is grueling, the hours are long and the pay is pretty dismal.

Just to put things in perspective, anime industry folks clock in around 219 hours a month. That’s way above Japan’s national average of 162 hours. And for comparison, Americans average about 176 hours a month. So yeah, that’s a lot of work.

And they earn far less too. Entry-level animators in their early 20s take home less than ¥2 million a year, while the average young Tokyoite makes over ¥3 million. In the US, even beginner animators earn more than double that.

Why’s that?

Well, part of the problem seems to be that most studios don’t own the anime they produce. Instead, they work under budget constraints set by production committees, made up of publishers, toy companies and media firms that finance the shows and share the royalties. Studios are just one cog in the wheel. So they outsource work to smaller firms, which then subcontract to even smaller ones and freelancers. Which means that revenue trickles down very slowly.

The end result is that streaming platforms and production houses cash in but the folks actually creating the anime don’t end up seeing much of that money. In 2023, while anime streaming revenues surged 51%, the production companies in Japan saw just a 6% bump. And this mismatch is breaking the backbone of the industry — the creators.

That means there are fewer hands on deck and with higher demand, Japan is outsourcing work to other countries and even considering AI to plug the gap.

Here’s the catch though. If Japan stops being the heart of anime, the magic could fade too.

And the Japanese government seems to have noticed that, which is why it passed a new law to improve protections for freelancers.

But there’s growing pressure to introduce tax credits for anime studios — something over 50 countries already offer their creative sectors, but is still missing in Japan.

Maybe fixing that is what it will take for anime to start looking as good behind the scenes as it does on screen. What do you think?

Infographic 📊

This Day in Financial History 📜

23rd of June, 1964 — When India helped rewrite global trade rules

In 1964, Geneva was buzzing with a summit. One where 120 countries gathered to ask a big question:

Can global trade be fairer for developing nations?

It was the closing day of the first UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). And India, led by economist Lakshmi Kant Jha, wasn’t just present but also leading the charge.

You see, in the two decades after World War II, the global economy was largely designed by and for the West. Rich countries set trade rules, fixed commodity prices and controlled capital flows through institutions like the IMF, World Bank and GATT (the predecessor to the WTO). But as newly independent countries like India entered the picture, they quickly realised something: 

The rules weren’t made for them.

So when UNCTAD was launched in 1964, India and other post-colonial nations pushed for a new agenda that included fairer trade terms, better financing options, stable commodity prices and access to technology. They didn’t want aid but equity.

UNCTAD’s big win? It formalised the idea of “Special and Differential Treatment” for developing countries. It laid the groundwork for concessional lending, tariff preferences and institutions like the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP) that still shape trade today.

Exactly 61 years later, UNCTAD’s 2025 World Investment Report puts India at the 15th spot globally for foreign direct investment, despite a tough global environment and flat year-on-year growth at $28 billion. What’s even more striking is that India topped Asia in capital expenditures for new projects.

That’s a full-circle moment.

From demanding a voice in 1964 to becoming a serious magnet for global capital today, India’s journey mirrors UNCTAD’s vision: of levelling the trade field not through aid, but through agency.

And the takeaway? It’s that the fight for a fairer trade system wasn’t won in one conference. But it started here. And as India builds digital public goods, attracts green investments and leads G20 and WTO talks, it’s no longer just asking for a seat at the table. It’s shaping the menu.

Readers Recommend 🗒️

This week, our reader Brindha Srinivasan recommends reading There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. This book is a poetic reflection on loss, longing and the invisible threads that connect people across time and space. Blending fiction and memoir, it explores how memories and emotions flow like rivers, quietly shaping lives beneath the surface.

Thanks for the rec, Brindha!

Finshots Weekly Quiz 🧩

It’s time to announce the winner of our previous weekly quiz. And the winner is…🥁

Anil! Congratulations. Keep an eye on your inbox and we’ll get in touch with you soon to send over your Finshots merch. And for the rest of you, don’t forget to check out our Weekly Wrapup for the latest quiz. Answer all the questions correctly, and who knows, you might just see your name here next week!

Until then, send us your book, music, business movies, documentaries or podcast recommendations. We’ll feature them in the newsletter! Also, don’t forget to tell us what you thought of today's edition. Just hit reply to this email (or if you’re reading this on the web, drop us a message: morning@finshots.in).

We’ll see you next Sunday!

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